I was greeted by a most unusual Jelly Belly package in the mail the other day. I wasn’t expecting anything, so naturally it was a nice surprise. Inside was one of the most interesting press kits I’ve seen in a long time. For once I was given instructions to eating candy! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such a thing. What other candy would need instructions other than Jelly Belly’s new Tabasco Jelly Beans!

I feel quite tickled that Jelly Belly is doing something so daring as Tabasco flavored beans. Not everyone is into spicy flavors as they are quite an acquired taste. I’ve learned recently to appreciate spicy things. Which is another reason why I was so pleased about this sample, it’ll give me a chance to see how the spice translates to a jelly bean.

I take my first bean out and pop it into my mouth. The flavor starts of sweet and you can really taste the flavor of the chili without the heat. It’s peppery with some sweetness. After a moment of chewing the spice then kicks in and it’s incredibly authentic to Tabasco sauce’s kick. This bean does have some heat to it. I certainly had my mouth burning, but in a good way, for a bit even after I had finished eating it. My husband tried some too and he really liked them. He felt the flavor was accurate to Tabasco sauce and had some heat to it. To be fair, his heat tolerance is way higher than mine, so the beans weren’t nearly as spicy to him. Still I did really enjoy the flavor, even if I could only eat one at a time.

I did try the Tabasco jelly beans with some of the citrus beans like the instructions in the press packet suggested. It certainly erased the flavor of the chili in the beginning of the bean. But it didn’t erase the heat of the bean. The spiciness of the Tabasco still shines through the citrus flavors of the other beans. It’s different but still very tasty.

I don’t think these Jelly Belly beans are for everyone. If you’re into spice and “hot’ foods, I certainly say go for it. If you’re not, I really don’t think you could get past how authentic the jelly bean tastes.

Jelly Belly has been branching out a lot in the past few years. They have found ways to keep flavors interesting and fresh, while keeping faithful to the classic beans. I feel today’s review of the Jelly Belly Chocolate Dips are one of those products. It’s the classic jelly beans we all know and love, but with the addition of a chocolate coating. I’ve reviewed some of the Dips in the past and today I’m trying one of the newer of the flavors: Strawberry.

The package has a wonderful smell once you open it. You mainly get notes of chocolate with a hint of sweetness of red berries and perfume. The chocolate covered Jelly Bellys have a nice sheen and they look like bigger, prettier Raisinets.

Tossing a couple into my mouth I lightly chew them to try and taste the chocolate before I get to the jelly bean. The chocolate tastes like a nice bittersweet chocolate. It’s not too bitter and it’s not too sweet. It has a good chocolate flavor without being too milky or sweet. The flavor of the strawberry bean is really strong. I’m not sure which of their strawberry beans they used for this one, but it’s really floral and has notes of raspberries in it. I was expecting more the strawberry jam flavor which was more authentic and concentrated. Balanced with the chocolate, the strawberry flavor is more floral then it is juicy, which I was surprised by. Together the flavors work really well and are really tasty. Neither the chocolate nor the strawberry steal the show, and they works together in balance. Once thing I did notice was that the beans don’t have the panned coating they normally do as “naked” jelly beans. I’m not sure why this is, but it’s something I noticed as I ate these.

I really enjoyed these and the friends I shared them with really enjoyed them too. One of the friends normally doesn’t like jelly beans but he expressed since the bean inside is different, it made the jelly bean enjoyable for him. I thought that was an interesting remark. Either way, it seems that whether or not you’re a fan of Jelly Belly’s jelly beans or not, it’s worth giving these a try to see if you like them!

I cannot see Sour Punch products and not think of one of my college roommates, who was the one who really introduced me to the Sour Punch candies. It’s amazing to me how many things, people and experiences you can associate with a certain candy. Since I really am a sucker for citrus flavors, this box of Tangerine Lemonade Sour Punch Bit really called to me. The box is a decent size, colorful and appealing. I really love the expressions of their Sour Punch characters on the front puckering up.

My readers may remember that I reviewed another Sour Punch Bits flavor last year, Strawberry Watermelon. These bits are way more colorful with their orange and yellow stripes. They are brightly colored and covered with a sour sugar. These exude a more “sour” presence than the other flavor did. They remind me of those colored erasers you see in Staples and Office Max.

The texture of these is soft but similar to plastic. The flavor is nice and way more up my alley than the Strawberry Watermelon. The tangerine flavor is spot on as it’s like orange, but way more zesty and tart. The lemonade accents it nicely with a lemon zip that keeps the flavor contrast from fading at all. This flavor has way more “punch” to me because the actual fruit flavors are zesty, so when the sour sugar wears off there is still sourness to the candy. I couldn’t help but pop one another another into my mouth to continue that sour flavor. It’s really addicting!

These are one of my favorite Sour Punch candies to date. I really like the shapes of them as opposed to the straws and belts. They’re just more pop-able and more intense since they’re individual pieces. This also makes them easy to share too, in my experience. So if you’re a fan of Sour Punch or any sour candies, I feel these are worth checking out.

Having a Cost Plus World market nearby certainly gives me easy access to a lot of foreign candies. That is where I found this E.Wedel Milk Chocolate with Raspberry bar. I grabbed it because it was Polish and I felt I hadn’t reviewed anything Polish in a long time. This chocolate particularly called to me because of the addition of the fruit. I really enjoy fruit fillings in chocolate, so I felt particularly drawn to this chocolate bar.

The package is beautiful with a background of deep royal blue with some of raspberry pink and white as accents. The illustration on the front shows a square of the chocolate being splashed with more liquid chocolate and full, plump raspberries. I can’t read most of the package as it’s all written in Polish, but I’m sure it must be very descriptive.

The chocolate is a nice middle brown color and the squares about about one inch square. It’s incredibly soft to break and I easily took a piece off. Although, it could be the LA heat that makes it so soft! You can see some of the cream filling in the broken off square. The chocolate smells sweet and very intensely of raspberries. It’s floral with an hit of something artificial that I can’t lay my finger on. Overall it’s a very nice scent.

To start, the taste is nice! On your first bite you get all three flavors blended at once. The chocolate is sweet and doesn’t deliver much flavor, then you get the creaminess from the filling, then the sharp fruitiness of the raspberry jam. The jam is very “red” and has the sweet berry flavor, but it also has an unexpected tartness to it. Overall the flavors blend together very well and make for a delicious filled chocolate. I’d certainly say that the raspberry is the foremost flavor here, as the chocolate and cream tend to recede behind the powerful fruitiness. The flavors are balanced beautifully and I’d image it’d have a very wide appeal.

To add to this review, my husband also bought a black cherry version of this bar. He liked it so much it was gone in a sitting. Well then. I believe that speaks for itself! This bar was really tasty and I’m glad I gave it a try. It just goes to show that Poland makes tasty chocolate too!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone has had a great holiday so far.
Today I’m reviewing a candy that I’ve had sitting around for a long time. I have a lot of candy in my office that sits around for a few months before I get to reviewing them. I am not happy with this, so my “New Years Resolution” is to be better about reviewing candy closer to when I find them. I also would like to do more “classic” candies that we see everyday, instead of the more foreign and limited edition candies that I feel I’ve been focusing on.

Well, enough rambling! Today’s review is Orbit Melon Remix. It’s one of the “newer” gum flavors from Orbit, which I imagine resulted from the competition from other gum brands. It seems recently that gum has been trying more original and unique flavors to keep consumers interested. This package is thing and contains fourteen sticks of gum.

To be honest I was unsure what to expect from this flavor. It’s labeled as “Melon Remix” but doesn’t really understand the “remix” part of the flavor description. Before I open the package, I tried to smell the gum. I do really enjoy when I can smell the gum through the packaging. It makes the gum seem really inviting and yummy. With this flavor, I can smell the gum. It has the distinct aroma of bubblegum with a hint of honeydew. Opening up the package, the aroma only gets stronger. I’m surprised as to how much the scent leans towards bubblegum and less toward melon. It’s very interesting to me. Unwrapping a piece, the gum is a very faint pink. Modest and very, very pretty.

The flavor is very fresh and juicy when you first start to chew. Now that I can actually taste the gum, the curiosity in regard to the “melon remix” name start making sense. It’s about 75% watermelon and 25% honeydew, despite the heavy honeydew aromas it has. So it’s a much more sweet melon flavor, in my mind. It’s got the refreshing flavor of the watermelon with the added sweetness of the honeydew. I do taste some accents of a bubblegum flavor in there as well, but it’s also not as intense as the aroma suggests. Sadly the flavor on this one doesn’t stay around for very long. I chewed it for five minutes before the gum became tough and the flavor was very faint. I certainly enjoyed it, but I do wish it lasted longer.

I don’t want to sounds like a broken record in regard to gum, but I liked it. Not enough to start chewing it regularly, but if a friend offered me a stick of it I wouldn’t refuse it.